Interview: Wiz Khalifa Talks Flying First Class, Seeing John McCain, and How People Annoy Him on Flights

Wiz Khalifa's O.N.I.F.C. means a lot of things. It's the most anticipated album for the rest of 2012 and it features one of the most controversial album covers in quite some time, but the title itself also has an interesting story. The acronym O.N.I.F.C. stands for Only Nigga In First Class. (The PG title is One Night In First Class.)

While Wiz is still mostly known for party songs and stoner anthems, but having a racially and financially charged album title—one that plays with the idea of being a young black man with money—is one of the most interesting decisions of his career.

His album isn't set to release until December 4th, but we figured it wasn't too early to get with the Taylor Gang general and talk about first class etiquette, the people who annoy him on the plane, and the worst flight experience he's ever had.

When you fly, are you usually the only black person on first class, like your title says? I am more than I’m not.

I remember a great line from 50 Cent when he was talking about how he was in first class on the plane with Al Gore and his wife. Have you ever ran into famous people in first class? Yeah, I ran into a couple people. They were also black people too like Quincy Jones, Rick Ross, and Big Sean. [Laughs.] I recently saw John McCain on the plane once.

Did you say anything to him? Oh, nah. Hell nah.

Why not? You’re supposed to bury that type of stuff, man.

Do you get recognized when you get on the plane these days? Yeah, I do more than I don’t.

Do people bother you? Yeah, people bother the hell out of me, actually. [I get on] planes in the morning [a lot] and some people feel different in the morning. They don’t have good mornings, but usually my mornings are like I’m up from a long-ass day from before. I need some sleep and I’m high as hell.

I’m trying to get something to eat and go back to sleep. But then people want you to smile, laugh, talk, take a picture. That’s understandable but when you have an egg and muffin at your face, it’s not cool to try and take a picture. That’s annoying.

Also, there’s people who call their niece and nephew and are like, “Can you talk to her real quick?” I don’t want to talk to your niece in the morning. Not in the morning. It’s not the time for me.

I’m guessing you’re not a morning person.I mean, who is?

Who else bothers you?When older people let me know that they don’t know who I am, that annoys the fuck out of me, too. They’re like, “I don’t know who you are. Why are these people going crazy?” Well, if you don’t know who I am, be cool with not knowing who I am because I’m cool with you not knowing who I am.

People want you to smile, laugh, talk, take a picture. That’s understandable but when you have an egg and muffin at your face, it’s not cool to try and take a picture. That’s annoying.

I don’t really feel like they’re trying to compliment me and tell me, “Hey, you look like a star. I want to know who you are.” They’re more like trying to tell me like, “Hey, these people are going crazy about you and I don’t know who the fuck you are.” They’re trying to bring me down off of whatever they think. It’s really just annoying. Who cares.

Does that have something to do with why you titled the album that? Yeah. That plays into it. It’s like the obvious way, which is they try to make you feel like you ain’t shit when you’re just trying to do what you do. They don’t know who you are, but you’re not really going out and telling people that. You’re just showing them.

And you feel like those people are trying to bring you down? Definitely. That’s what a hater is.

When was the first time you flew first class? When I was 12-years-old. I was coming back from Japan to America after living in Japan for two years. I think the [stewardess] felt bad for me. She thought I was a cute little boy or something so she woke me up and she took care of me the whole time. She gave me a lot of meals to eat and batteries for my Walkman.

How often do you fly nowadays? I fly more than I drive. So a couple times a week, every week. Nowadays I [always fly first class], but for the past year, I had to work my way up there.

Do you still get jitters when flying despite all the flights you’ve taken? Yeah, I still get nervous as hell. It’s usually on take off, not on landing. Landing is pretty cool, take-off sucks. You never know if it’s going to be smooth or if you’re going to hit some turbulence on the way up. You never know what’s fully going on until the plane levels out and you hear that beep.

What’s the worst flight experience you’ve ever had?The ones where I’m too tall to fit on the plane. Sometimes we take short flights in little-ass planes with the propellers on the side, where you have to go in through the side door, and walk out the door. Those planes are little as fuck and I have to bend my head to the side to get in them. I don’t like that. It’s uncomfortable. Nobody wants to bend their head to stand up. You just want to stand up.